CALL: RN18 Panel – Sociology of Communications and Media Research 14th Conference of the European Sociological Association 20-23 August 2019, Manchester, UK

Abstract submission deadline: 1 February 2019
Abstract submission:
https://www.europeansociology.org/conftool/abstract-submission

CALL TEXT: bit.ly/2UoQh7I

Major changes in the global relations and internal
character of societies have posed major questions about
how such changes are communicated and understood.
Globalisation, fiscal and economic crisis, rapidly rising
inequality, changing work conditions, large scale
migration, and major changes in forms of political
mobilisation and popular support are all taking place in a
period when we are coming to terms, both politically and
analytically, with the ramifications of the expansion of
digital communications and of the large corporations who
dominate their organisation. This all poses major
questions for us as analysts of these processes, whether
at local, European, or global level.

RN18 calls for contributions that may help to shape
critical media sociology in the 21st century in its task
of addressing the problems outlined above. These might
deal with some of the following example topics:

General:

RN18_a – Sociology of Communications and Media Research
(Open Session)

RN18_b – Critical media sociology, theoretical issues

RN18_c – Political economy approaches to communications

RN18_d – Critical media sociology and critical theory

More specific areas:

RN18_e – Labour and employment in ‘digital capitalism’

RN18_ f – Race, ethnicity and racism

RN18_g – Nationalism, identity, ‘euroscepticism’

RN18_h – Patriarchy and gender

RN18_i – Political communication and the rise of
‘populism’

RN18_ j – Communications and the cultural ‘commons’

RN18_k – Big data, AI

RN18_l – Journalism in the age of digital communication

RN18_m – Digital activism, the progressive potential of
‘new media’

The organisers stress that these topics are listed to
illustrate the invited areas of research and discussion,
but are neither prescriptive nor exhaustive. We welcome
contributions reflecting work in progress, empirical work,
and work yet to receive public presentation.

NOTES FOR AUTHORS

Please do not send us a full copy of your paper (neither
before nor after the conference). Abstracts sent by email
cannot be accepted. Each participant can submit and
present one paper as first author. The submitting author
will be considered the presenting author. All
submitting/presenting authors can be second author of one
more paper. Abstracts should not exceed 250 words.
Abstracts will be peer-reviewed and selected for
presentation by the Research Network.

SEMI-PLENARY

RN18 also organises, together with RN6 – Critical
Political Economy, a semi-plenary at the ESA 2019
Conference in Manchester. The semi-plenary will cover
topics around digital labour and capitalism, and the two
confirmed speakers are Ursula Huws (University of
Hertfordshire) and Phoebe Moore (University of Leicester).
Further information of this semi-plenary can be found
here:
https://www.europeansociology.org/about-esa-2019/programme/semi-plenaries

MAILING LIST AND FACEBOOK

You can join RN18′s media sociology mailing list:
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=ESA-RN18
and follow RN18 on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/esarn18